How did newspapers report on the Bellingham Riots of 1907?

This photo appeared on the front page of The Bellingham Herald on September 6, 1907

Like most cities in America, Bellingham has a racist past. Not only did it boast the "strongest chapter of the KKK" in the 1920s and 1930s, but a mere 30 years earlier, a mob of over 500 white men drove nearly all the South Asian people out of town. Their rationale for their violent act was that they were afraid of missing out on labor available at the local mills, where South Asian and Indian men worked for cheaper. Coverage of this riot was prevalent in The Bellingham Herald, The American Reaville and The Puget Sound American, all of whom covered the events with varying levels of racism, bias and inaccuracy.

One large problem with the coverage surrounding these riots was finding the most accurate information. Many newspapers reported on this issue, though few managed to capture the scope and source of the riots. In the Washington State Journal and Adams County News published on September 11, 1907, an article entitled Run Out Hindus spoke of possible retribution from Great Britain, because at the time India was one of the UK's colonies. However, the article failed to report at all on who caused the riot, or that most of the Indian people involved were Sikh, not Hindu.

The men responsible for the riot were members of the Asiatic Exclusion League, an organization dedicated to restricting the amount of labor performed by Asian immigrants and creating a whiter society. In truth, very few newspapers at the time reported much on the AEL's central role in organizing the riots.

"There is no doubt that rough remarks have been applied to the dusky men by white workers, and these have frightened them. It probably is true that nothing was said or done by the Hindus to warrant such treatment, with possibly slight exceptions, as they are peaceably inclined," read an article from the Puget Sound American in 1906. The article predicted the impending riot that would happen within a year.

Nearly 100 years after the riots, Cascadia Weekly published an account of what had happened on September 4, 1907. Due to rumors that white workers at the Whatcom Falls Mill Company plant were being laid off in favor of cheap labor from south Asian immigrants, the AEL organized a riot to run the workers out of town. They were never prosecuted for their violence.

The riot lasted ten days, and when the dust settled, almost every Asian immigrant had left town or been arrested.

Out of all the coverage, Cascadia Weekly's 2007 coverage was the most balanced. 1907 was just after the height of yellow journalism, which meant that coverage didn't have to be fair or accurate, it just had to sell papers. Cascadia Weekly worked against that, using clippings from multiple different news sources to tell a rich story.

In the end, the lack of blame placed on the rioters and the underreporting of the effects on the Sikh community was not uncommon for the type of news that was produced at the time. One can only hope that in the future, coverage of dramatic events like this has become more fair and balanced.

Citations:

Cahn, David. “The 1907 Bellingham Riots in Historical Context.” The Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, The University of Washington, 2008, depts.washington.edu/civilr/bham_history.htm.

Griffey, Trevor. “The Strongest Chapter in WA.” The Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, The University of Washington, 2007, depts.washington.edu/civilr/kkk_bellingham.htm.

Johnson, Tim. “Dark Century: OBSERVING THE ANNIVERSARY OF ANTI-SIKH RIOTS.” Cascadia Weekly, 29 Aug. 2007, pp. 8–9.

“RUN OUT HINDUS BELLINGHAM, WN., THE SCENE OF MOB RULE.” Washington State Journal And Adams County News, 11 Sept. 1907.

“Hindus Scared By Plan To Oust Them .” Puget Sound American, 16 Sept. 1906.